Liz Warren.
Liz Warren. Moose Henderson / Getty

Trump can't shut up about Biden: Do all narcissists have unhealthy obsessions with their rivals? In a June call with Xi Jinping, Trump suggested—unprompted—that China should investigate Joe Biden. In a presser this morning, Trump said he DIDN'T encourage Xi to hunt for dirt on Biden, but CNN reported today that on a June 18 call (stored on the same secure server where the infamous Ukraine call was stored), Trump talked with Xi about Biden and Warren at length. On that call, he suggested that he would stay quiet about the Hong Kong protests... which sounds a lot like quid pro quo. China was reportedly uninterested in exposing the hot gossip on Biden.

Send it: I feel the same way.

Are we supposed to call South Lake Union "Cloud City"? Google opened the first part of its new five-building campus in South Lake Union today, and the GeekWire post on the opening reads: "Google and Amazon are officially next-door neighbors in Cloud City." I paused on the nickname. I assume it's because all these companies are feuding over cloud computing, and the Google Cloud campus features a giant cloud on it. But have techies referred to Seattle as Cloud City for a long time? Is the whole city Cloud City or is it just South Lake Union? Or just the Google campus? Anyhow, I don't hate the nickname and I'm referring to South Lake Union as Cloud City from now on. Cloud City, the land of corpcore.

Bernie Sanders will be in the next Democratic debate: His heart is strong.

Our former editor-in-chief gets ratioed on Twitter: For profiling the creator of the Proud Boys for Los Angeles Magazine. Katie says it's a good story. (Also, that's a finger. Not a penis.)


Far-right conspiracy theorist mocked for creating Warren erotica: High-profile troll Jacob Wohl sent out a media alert today announcing a press conference "where a former U.S. Marine will apparently claim he had an affair with 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren," reports Newsweek. Twitter had a field day with the "news."




Meanwhile, Warren's official response to the "scandal" is: "Go Cougars."

Seattle's Intiman Theatre will keep the doors open: The theater came very close to closing but announced today that they will remain open and kick off a fundraiser to raise $200,000 by the end of the year.

Outrage over Deputy Seattle Police Chief Marc Garth Green's remark that some sex workers “choose to do what they’re doing” and "enjoy it": Multiple council members rebuked the comment, with Sawant calling it “just not acceptable.” SPD clarified the remark today, with a police captain stating that "he does not believe sex workers 'enjoy' such work."

Personally, I find this pearl-clutching to be reductive: A distinction must be made between victims forced into prostitution and sex workers who choose to labor within the oldest profession in the world. We should be working toward decriminalizing sex work. Thinking the work is solely populated by victims and abusers works against that goal by denying agency to the people who choose—and enjoy—the work. I have many friends who are sex workers, by choice, who do enjoy their work. The larger point is Seattle and SPD shouldn't be arresting sex workers to keep them safe.

There's another whistle-blower: This one's coming from the IRS, where a whistle-blower "filed a complaint alleging that senior Treasury officials tried to exert influence over the mandatory audit of President Trump’s tax returns," reports the New York Times. The complaint apparently does not "directly implicate" Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. It's hard to tell how big of a deal this whistle-blow is; the details are vague.

Some random shouting:

Some more random shouting: This thought came during a speech at a health care rally in Florida today.

Trump's speech was at the exclusive retirement community, The Villages, outside of Orlando: I spent a few days in The Villages in 2016 with my friend's dad who retired there. Every night at 5 p.m. there's group-dancing in the piazzas. The old ladies will buy you booze if you call them "mommy." I obliged.

Pete's betting big on Iowa: Can he do it?

Bruley, the French bulldog who starred in Netflix's Queer Eye, is dead: The nation mourns.

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My whole heart. My love bug. My best friend. My constant. My soul mate. My everything. I brought him home when he was 9 weeks old on a rainy day in New York City. Ten years later on a rainy day in LA, he passed away in my arms on my bedroom floor. Bru had been suffering from heart problems, and an instant heart attack was a possibility. He just had too much love and heart for his physical body. It all happened so fast, but I held him as he took his last breath, and I was able to tell him I loved him the very most. I told him everyday I loved him more than anything in the world, and I reminded him of that over and over as he slipped out of this life. My best friend and boyfriend held us both. He gave me more than I could have ever given him, and I was able to thank him for allowing me to be his mom. He chose me. We got to experience so much together; he loved traveling on planes and looking out the window! He was the ultimate copilot in the car when he wasn’t dangerously sprawled out across my lap as I drove. He was so very loved by my family and friends and even “non dog people.” He mastered the “jump kiss,” and I always had to explain to people that he wouldn’t buy you dinner first, he just went in for the full make-out. In the last year of his life, he found fame! Over the course of 16 episodes of @queereye, in just a few moments on screen, you guys all got a glimpse of the Bru I knew and loved. He was hilarious, stubborn, sometimes inappropriate, and always a sucker for a snack. He was pure love. It’s been so fun capturing his spirit and sharing more with you all here. I’ve taken a few days to process and grieve and figure out what’s next. I’ve realized, I don’t want to stop sharing the best of Bru. I also want to show you a little of what it was like the last few months dealing with an ailing dog in heart failure as more and more dogs are being diagnosed with the same issues. I was so close to completing Bru’s website with long-awaited merch. I’ll get there in time. I’ve also been exploring non-profit opportunities and getting involved in bulldog rescue. There is so much Bru inspired, and it’s so much bigger than I even realized. (Cont. below)

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